By Daniel Sparks
Publication Date: 2026-10-07 20:37:00
Nvidia (NVDA -0.74%) now out-earns Apple (AAPL +0.91%) by a large margin. The artificial intelligence (AI) chip leader posted net income of $59.7 billion for its fiscal second quarter of 2027 (ended July 26, 2026). Apple earned $29.8 billion in its fiscal third quarter of 2026 (ended June 27, 2026), about half as much.
But the stock market values the two far more closely. With Nvidia’s shares near a record high at roughly $242 as of this writing, its market cap is about $5.8 trillion. Apple, at about $333 a share, is worth about $4.9 trillion.
Nvidia’s market value, in other words, is only about 20% bigger than Apple’s, even though its latest quarterly profit was about 100% bigger. I think this gap says less about Apple than about how much the market trusts Nvidia’s earnings to last.
Image source: Getty Images.
A gap that opened fast
Showing how quickly this happened, Nvidia’s net income for the same quarter a year before was $26.4 billion. Apple earned $23.4 billion in its June 2025 quarter, so Nvidia’s edge was only about 13%.
Since then, Nvidia’s quarterly net income is up 126% year over year, while Apple’s climbed 27%. It was a strong year for Apple. But Nvidia’s earnings more than doubled.
Sure, a single quarter can flatter one side. Nvidia’s GAAP net income includes gains on its investments in other companies’ shares, which added $7.8 billion before tax last quarter. Stripping those out, along with a few smaller items, its non-GAAP (adjusted) net income was $54.0…
